WhipperSnaPR

Pod Design and Legal Seafoods have fun with YouTube… check out the latest project:

Paparazzi 2:

You’re moving up the food chain! the lowly photographer has been promoted to paparazzi videographer. Shoot your way to the big bucks by capturing candid and embarrassing clips of celebrities at their worst like Lindsay Loclass partying hard or a very drunk Smell Glibson all while dodging obstacles like Miss North American, beer bottles and the Celebritology Aliens! Pass all rounds for a chance at the ultimate mission… a shot of Britney’s pet beaver

I’ve been mulling over the topic of website traffic measurement in my head for the past month or so, brainstorming ideas on how to more formalize and standardize my “seeding” at work. Basically, I want to add quantifiable accountability  to what I do.  So, today, I came across some interesting articles/blogs on the subject and thought maybe it was a sight to put my own brainstorming on “paper”. I hope this will be the first of many posts, but for now…

I found this new list put together by Compete. It is a list of the top 200 sites ranked by the amount of time people spend on each.

I was also interested to read Seth Godin’s opinion on the list and I remembered an article I read a few weeks ago from the Center for Media Research about this report from Alterian, a marketing analytics company. The report focuses mainly on email direct marketing, but one statistic caught my eye: 70% of respondents said they apply basic or no analysis to any of their email campaigns. I can’t help but suspect that number transcends direct marketing and would reflect the bahavior of most marketers.

I think it is very interesting how some companies don’t even think to ask for metrics or statistics about their online presence and other’s can’t stop thinking about it. This is easier said than done, but, for me, measuring the success of each piece of online material is a very specialized endeavor. It cannot be boiled down into one statistic. As a proud graduate of Boston University’s College of Communication and a student of James McQuivey’s communication research class, I have a deep appreciation for reliable and useful numbers. Really, any marketing campaign should have a research and evaluation mechanism built in. Obviously, in the real world, this isn’t always easy to do.

And, even when it is integrated, you might not even be getting the right information. For example, does FedEx really care how long someone is on their sight? Sure, exposure to the brand is important, but this might also say something about the sites usability. And this would be especially important to note if, as Allurenet reports,  41% of consumers avoid shopping at a brick and mortar location if they’ve previously had a bad experience with the company online.

There has been some great debates surrounding online traffic measurement and I don’t think we’re anywhere near finding the best solution. Still, these are some creative, interesting and useful approaches. Not all of it pertains to what I’m exploring for Pod Design, but it is all worth keeping in mind.

I’ve run across several articles on this over the past view weeks, so I thought I would post some thoughts:

flogs

You Tube can be very attractive to any marketer. I can’t blame them for wanting to jump on the band wagon. I probably get an average of 30 emails and IMs a week containing links to the newest and coolest you tube clip, many of them branded for one product or another. But, nothing is hated more than a fake video that is meant to look “grassroots” or “user-generated.” I recently had to tackle this topic with a client; the conversation alone was painful. Their intent was fine, but their execution was all wrong. Eventually, they won; but I’m pretty sure there shaking in their boots after the sony debacle.

seeding

In a pretty generic Adotas article about WOM marketing, Brent Hill writes, “WOM marketers usually begin by identifying the people that are most likely to talk about a product or service - the influencers - and making them aware of new features, benefits, or selling points. If successful, this “seeding” effort initiates a viral marketing phase, in which the influencers share their opinions and experiences with others.”

That’s my job in a nutshell… my job description doesn’t get any more basic. But there is more to it. When seeding, we also have to remember that most of the influencers know they are influencers; they expect some respect, and rightfully so. As pointed out at DHADM in this sobering open letter to viral marketers, bloggers and site editors don’t enjoy being told how or what to post. They’re also smart enough to easily spot fakes, so don’t insult their intelligence: “We’re not autistics that someone planted in front of a computer to post stuff. We’re obviously interested and engaged in the online world, so treating us like rubes won’t do you any favors. Unless negative mentions are what you’re looking for, that is.”

And you really don’t want to piss these guys off. According to this article in PROMO, a recent study released by the Keller Fay Group claims there are 4.5 billion brand mentions a day. “In fact, a mere 15% of the population makes 1.5 billion brand mentions to friends each day…” Intuitively, these are the same people you are seeding, and not all of those brand mentions are positive.
The lesson here, as I see it, is to remember that your audience is more than pageviews and pass-alongs. They’re smart and they’ll see right through any attempt marketers make to pull the wool over their eyes. If your influencers aren’t happy, you’ll never reach your full target market.